Combined metallophone and zither.



' H. C. MARX. comamzn METALLOPHONE'AND ZITHER.

Patented July16, 1918 APPLICATION .FILED JULY 2.1917.

6 QHHHHHIM HENRY C. MARX, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COMBINED METALLOPHONE AN'D ZITHER.

Application filed July 2, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY C. MARX, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Metallophones and Zithers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in a musical instrument of the metallophone zither type, and it consists in certain peculiarities of the construction, novel arrange ment and operation of the various parts thereof as will be hereinafter 'more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a musical instrument wherein a series of metal bars tuned to a musical scale, like those of orchestra bells, are combined and associated with a series of grouped musical strings capable of being tuned to musical chords to harmonize with the metal bar scale, whereby said metal bars, which will always remain in tune, will act'as a guide by which the chord strings can be tuned. I

Other objects and advantages of the in- .vention, will be disclosed in the following description and explanation.

In the accompanying drawing which serves to illustrate an embodiment of the invention,

Figure 1, is a plan View of the instrument showing a portion of the sounding box or casing removed and some of the metal bars and the support therefor omitted or broken 0E.

Fig. 2, is an end elevation of a fragment of the sounding box, showing means for holding the music sheet. v A

Fig. 3, is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows showing the bottom of the sounding box shortened for the convenience of illustration, and

Fig. 4, is a perspective view of a spring hammer used in playing the instrument.

Like numerals of reference, refer to corresponding parts throughout the different views of the drawing.

The reference numeral 5 designates the sounding box, as a whole, which box is by preference, rectangular in shape as shown and has its bottom 6, by preference, located within the same at a slight distance from the lo er e g f the b t a clea y Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16, 1918.

Serial No. 178,161.

shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing. One end of the bottom 6, which may be termed the front end thereof, is extended from the adjacent end of the box 5 to provide a key and finger board for the strings of the instrument. The top of the box 5 is partially closed by means of a pair of strips 7 and S which are located longitudinally with respect to the box and in parallelism with one another yet so as to afiord an open space between their adjacent edges as will be readily understood by reference to Fig. 1 of the drawing. These strips or pieces 7 and 8 are secured to the edges of the sides and ends of the box in any suitable manner. Located horizontally and transversely on the inner surface of each of the end pieces of the box 5 is a cleat 9 on which the ends of the rails 10 extended from one end of the box to the other rest. These rails are spaced apart in parallelism with one another and they as well as the cleats 9 are located above the strings 11 of the instrument. These strings are secured at one of their ends by means of hitch pins 12 to the upper surface of the bottom 6 of the sounding box near the rear end of said bottom, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing. Near that end of the bottom 6 on which the hitch pins 12 are mounted said bottom is provided with a bridge 13 to support the strings and the extension 1 1 or key and finger board is provided near its front end with a bridge 15 to support the strings 11 near their front ends, which ends are connected to suitable tuning keys 16 or pegs of the ordinary or any well-known construction. As shown, the strings 11 are arranged in groups, each group consisting of four strings.

Located on the upper surface of each of the rails 10 is astrip 17 of felt or other suitable material which strips extend from one end of the rails to the other end thereof and may be secured thereto in any suitable way. Mounted transversely on the strips 17 and rails 10 are a series of metal bars 18 each of which has near each of its ends an opening 19 through which openings are extended pins 20 which are seated in the rails 10 and are somewhat smaller than the openings 19. Th upper portions of the pins 20 are connected together by means of cords or wires 21 employed for the purpose of preventing dislocation of the bars 18. The metal bars 18 are arranged in octaves and in the present instance 1 ha shown t a trsomitted from Fig-.1 of the drawing. These bars are tuned to a musical scale and the strings 11 are tuned to musical chords to harm niz it the sca e c the barsin order to i'odu'ce sounds on the metal bars 18 any ordlnary ma let or suitable hammer may be employed but to obtain the best results, or in order to produce soi't tones or louder tones I prefer to use a hammer of the construction shown in Fig. s ot: the drawing which consists of a handle 22 which has'at one of its ends a resilient shank 28 on the free end of which is mounted a hammer 2% one end of which is provided with a cushion 25 which is employed to produce soft or low tones or sounds when the bars 18 are struck thereby. The handle 22 of the hammer is provided at one of its ends with a cushion 26 which is located directly under the inner end of the shank 23 and is intended to be used when it is desired that the hammer should repeatedly strike the metal bars to produce tremolo. When this is done the cushion portion of the handle is brought in contact with one of the strips "Z and 8' of the sounding box, usually the strip 8, when it isobvious that the cushion 26 will prevent any noise occasioned by the impact of the handle 22 with said strip which would occur if the cushion is not used.

The box may be provided in one of" its sides with akerf 27 which is disposed downwardly and inwardly trom the outer surface ofthe box and is for the purpose of hold-in a card 28 on which the music may-be printed or which may support an ordinary sheet of music in the proper position to be easily read by the player.

in order to enable those skilled in music to readily understand the invention and its operation, I have illustrated in Fig-. 1 of the drawing a tuningchart 29 mounted or displayed on the extension lton which I have shown four groups of chords; the one numbered 1, being tuned to give the tonicor first chord in the key of Q; the, one numbored 2, being tuned to a dominant seventh or second change of said key; the one num- 5O bered 3, being tuned to a sub-dominant or a third change of the key; and the one numbered 4 beingtuned to the tonic chord of D.

On the strip '7", or top of the sounding box is shown a scale of notes to indicate the pitch to which the metal strips are tuned. The numerals onsaid strip, are intended to be used in connection with music sheets specially prepared for use in connect-ionwith the instrument to indicate the metal strips within said box, and a series of grouped musical strings capable of being--tunedto musical chords to harmonize with the metal bar scale and also mounted within said box but below said strips.

2. In a musicalinstrument, the'comhina tion with; a sounding box, having a longitudinal opening in its top and an extension projected from thelowe'r part of one of its ends, ot a series ofi tuned metal bars mounted across and below said opening a series of grouped' musical strings; mounted longitudinally with-in said box and over said extenion, and means on said extension; to tune the string-S; V l

3 In a musical instrument, the combination with a sounding box havingan extension prqected therefrom, of a series of tuned metal bars mounted in the box; aseries of musicalstrings. mounted in the box and extended longitudinally oyersaid extension, and means to tune the strings.

4. In a musical instrument, the con bination with a metallophoneof musical strings tuned tofurnish a plurality of chords] and mounted under the bf'ars -fthe metallophone.

V HENRY C. Witnesses i i 'GHAS: C- THEMAN? L F, Pozrcxl 2 Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gnmmissi'oner ofPatents,

Washington, D. 0.-

the co'nibina- 65 

